King's Bounty
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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As a knight, paladin, barbarian or sorceress, amass an army of creatures to take on the local baddies and search for the Sceptre of Order. A turn based game with a time limit that decreases depending on the skill level you play at.

Depending on your allegiance, you will initially start with a different set of creatures, though the king will not mind whether you're his knight or barbarian. Game consists of four maps, each with more mean creatures to control and meaner opponents to fight, but acquiring those maps early will let you find and buy some mean creatures that will help you easily conquer prior maps.

You can see all the enemies on the map and can literally clear the map of enemies, though random can appear in your castles if you leave them unprotected after the conquest. With each conquered castle (assuming the castle is occupied by the enemy you are currently after), you will get a level up, after first two level-ups king will promote you and you'll be able to recruit cavalries from the castle, after four more promotions you'll be able to recruit knights. All the other creatures are found outside the king's castle and can be recruited no matter the level, although your level determines the quantity of creatures you can find for recruitment, but take care of your money because if you don't have enough for your army's salary, they will desert or turn against you.

There are also two artifacts per each map that will also uncover the map of the place holding the King's Sceptre. The moment you find the sceptre and bring it back to the king, the game will end even if you happen to find it very early in the game.

As for tougher enemies, like the final one having hundreds of dragons and demons, they can also be defeated, but not by the army you can muster in one go. But when you're defeated, you respawn back at the king's castle and start with almost nothing but your money, however, the enemy in the castle will be left without those creatures lost in the battle, unless some of the new comes to aid him as every week the population increases.

Alternate Titles
"King's Bounty: The Conqueror's Quest" -- Genesis title
"King's Bounty: A Conqueror's Quest" -- Genesis Cartridge title

Trivia

Ghosts and Peasants made for a dangerous combination indeed. They were not only dangerous to face, but also dangerous to use because the game offered a single challenging feature which was absent from HOMM. The hero of King's Bounty had a Leadership statistic based on class and Charisma which imposed a limit on the size of the army they could recruit. Ghosts could swell to exceed this limit by adding fallen enemies to their numbers which meant that the hero could lose control of them in the middle of a battle!

But there is another twist. The developers thought of a way to somewhat limit the Ghosts' overwhelming power: When the game calendar showed "Day of the Peasant", all Ghosts were permanently turned into Peasants!

There exists a board game of the same name - King's Bounty. It was published in 1991 by Task Force. It's played by 1 to 8 players and revolves around catching villains in a fantasy land. It's never mentioned as a derivative of the computer game, and the villains' names are all different, but the basic premise, and, strangely, the cover of the game is practically the same.

There is a kind (well not actually) of bug in King's Bounty that (probably) was fixed and realized in later versions of Heroes of Might and Magic. This has to do with the most powerful creature in King's Bounty.

Dragons you think? Not by a long shot. It's Ghosts. Yes, ghosts. Ten or twenty of them won't do much harm...well under normal circumstances they don't. But have you ever tried facing 1k (one thousand) of Ghosts? I unfortunately made the (stupid) mistake of bringing a lot of peasants (1000-2000) attacking a castle that initially only had 20-30 ghosts.

Next thing I know, I was collecting Dragons up to 100 and still got smacked...hard...by the undying protectors of that castle. They (kinda) fixed this problem in the later series of Heroes and Might and Magic by reducing the number of ghosts that resurrect after each ghost attack. In Heroes of Might and Magic II, Ghosts were no longer a force to be reckoned with...and was virtually eliminated as a main castle creature since Heroes of Might and Magic III. Bye-bye Casper and friends...

Jon (Van Caneghem), Mark (Caldwell), and the rest of New World Computing would spend their spare time playing board games. It was part of the development process and helped us with the design of new games. The team would work for several days straight on the next major software release, and in a downtime, we'd play.

One of our favorite games was Ogre. An old AD&D derivative originally from the dark mists of the seventies, but an outstanding strategy game nonetheless. We loved it. John decided it would be a great basis for a new computer game.

Thus began the genesis of King's Bounty. We worked for several months on the game design, re-working interface and strategic flow issues through lunchtimes. Early on, we used graph paper and lead figurines to represent the hordes. It was the stuff of imagination and pure creativity.

Recently ported to the PS2 under the name Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the DragonBone Staff.

This game is actually the precursor to Heroes of Might and Magic. Very similar game play.

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Description from the packaging:

First, you vanquished monsters in the dungeons. Now lead them into battle in the fields!
You have conquered all the dungeons. No one can stand up to your might. The most powerful and aggressive of monsters flee from the mere mention of your name. You single-handedly tamed the underworld and now wish to retire.

Sadly, in your absence the overworld has fallen into disorder and chaos. Noble King Maximus has lost his Sceptre of Order, the one artifact which unites the four continents into a nation. A band of unscrupulous master criminals has stolen the Sceptre. Now, a wave of crime, terror, and anarchy sweeps across the land, threatening to destroy the civilization you call home.

King Maximus has recruited you, the hero from the dungeons, to recover the Sceptre and dispose of the arch-villains who stole it. Starting with a small army granted to you by the King, you must journey across the four continents, constantly expanding your forces, as you search for the criminals. Recruit dragons, trolls, ogres, knights, and more to aid your cause.

When you finally confront one of the villains, you must lay siege to his castle and do battle with his forces. Beware, in the overworld there are many powerful men, some even more powerful than you. Every battle you enter carries the risk of ignominious defeat and shame as well as the possibility of glory and treasure.

With the defeat of each villain, gain another piece of the puzzle which reveals where the Sceptre of Order was hidden. Take too long to solve the puzzle and watch your homeland fall into irrevocable disrepair and ruin. Return the Sceptre to King Maximus before it is too late and receive the King's Bounty.
Choose a gallant knight, an avenging paladin, a bloodthirsty barbarian, or a cunning sorceress to adventure with.

Build up the power of your character by finding powerful and potent artifacts which augment your already considerable might.
Journey across four mammoth continents, filled with castles, towns, and marauding bands of monsters, in search of the Sceptre of Order.

Recruit strange and wonderful monsters to your army. Beware, if you recruit too aggressively, the more powerful monsters will revolt against your command.


http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/kings-bounty
